He hasn’t won any races.  He hasn’t won any championships except being the greatest dad ever to my sister and me.  

Before my dad and mom got married and subsequently later divorced my dad was a dirt racer.  He was in the Air Force in the 70’s and him and a couple buddies got their hands on a car modified and raced it a local track.  His buddies opted to have my dad be the driver since he was the smallest.  That lasted only a handful of races before his buddies and him came to the decision that he was a better mechanic than a driver.    My dad said he came in dead last three times and one of those times he said there had been a wreck that managed to take out half the field and he still managed to come in dead last.   So after that the move was made and he became the chief mechanic and did that for several years before getting out of the Air Force and marrying my mom.  

One summer I was around 13 or so I got up the courage to talk to my dad about racing.   I had no idea he knew anything about it.   We started talking about it and he told me a story about how when he was in high school him and some friends would take his Yellow Volkswagen Beetle (not a Bug! To quote him, “I didn’t drive Herbie the Love Bug.  I drove a Beetle!” ) and race it around the dirt roads at Hayworth Park.  It’s a park in Bellevue Nebraska that sits next to the Missouri River and floods most summers.  The story my dad told me was how his friends would race his Beetle and other cars around the park.   My mom who knew my dad in High school is quick to add to the story about how my dad flipped the car over once and my mom, dad and one of his friends had to flip the car over and then beat the dent out of the hood with Biology books so my Grandpa wouldn’t get mad.   That was the summer my dad’s and my relationship began to change.   While most teenagers tend to pull away from their parents I got closer to mine especially my dad.  

Every summer we take a father/daughter trip.   We load up on the motorcycle and we go camping for two weeks.   I’ll be 30 next spring something that is very hard for me to admit but we’ve been taking father/daughter trips since I was 13 and we’ve only missed one summer trip.   We’ve managed to incorporate our love for racing into these trips too.  A couple of years ago we took a 100 mile side trip and saw a race at Elodra.  We drove by the Brickyard one year and watched them set things up for the race.  We’ve been stuck in race traffic  making faces at the Kyle Busch hauler  and giving thumbs up to our drivers.   This summer however might just be the icing on the cake.  We’re loading up and going to Bristol Motor speedway.  Sadly there will be no race when we’re there but it’s still going to be fun!  Then we’re heading to Charlotte for race shop tours. 

I sat down last weekend and asked my dad a couple of racing questions interview style because I thought it would be a little fun and I pretty much knew the answers I just knew it would be fun to get them from him this way.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?